My Two Cents: Only Nice Thing to Say About 'Embarrassing' Indiana Is Getting an 8-Day Break
MADISON, Wis. — My mother turned 92 years old on Thursday, and I know I'm biased, but she's the sweetest woman in the world. I get most of my personality skills from her, especially the one where you live life with positivity and find the good in people.
From the time we were all little kids growing up in Northwest Indiana, we heard the phrase from her over and over. "If you don't have anything nice to say,'' she would tell us in her never-angry soft voice, ''then don't say anything at all.''
That's not always the easiest advice to follow as a sports columnist, especially when you're that glass half full guy who's writing about an Indiana basketball program that used to be a blueblood, but is now just ''an embarrassment'' to Don Fischer, the radio play-by-play who has poured his heart and soul into this Hoosiers program for 51 years.
So when I wake up on a frigid, bone-chilling morning in Madison before the sun even rises, I'm struck with a real dilemma. I'm trying hard —really, really hard — to think of something nice to say after Indiana lost 91-79 to the first-place Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night at the Kohl Center.
The score is deceiving; it wasn't really that close. And it was their second embarrassing loss this week after a 21-point beatdown by Purdue on Tuesday in Assembly Hall, the worst home lost in 90 years to the hated Boilers. My mom was 2 years old in 1934 when the Hoosiers lost 47-13.
Epic horribleness.
So I'm trying to be nice and spin this the right way, but I've got nothing. Nothing at all. I spent postgame pondering this, and couldn't write even the first word because I was so angry. A few Wisconsin crafts beers and a good night's sleep didn't even help.
And then it hit me. I got it. I've finally found something nice to say about this frustrating Indiana basketball team that is noncompetitive in big games.
So, let's go. Here it is, my one positive thought.
I don't have to watch this team for EIGHT DAYS!
Right now, that's a really good thing. Thanks to a quirk in the schedule, Indiana doesn't play against until next Saturday. That's eight days from Friday's disaster to a meeting with No. 14 Illinois in Champaign, which is very rare in what is normally a wintery grind in the heat of the Big Ten season.
There is clear unanimous thinking on this one, too. Hoosier Nation is frustrated, disgusted, angry — and ready to bolt. Year 3 of the Mike Woodson experience at Indiana is coming off the rails. It's eye-scratching bad possession after possession, but that's not the real problem.
It's the lack of effort, that's a problem. It's the lack of urgency, which is an even bigger issue.
But the biggest problem — which leads many of us to using a word like ''embarrassing,'' — is that the Hoosiers, a legitimate brand name in this sport, have been reduced to being called ''a bunch of thugs'' with ''a roster full of dirty players and cheap-shot artists.''
That is so not Indiana basketball.
This bad rap started up again 10 days ago, when Xavier Johnson, Indiana's sixth-year senior guard and team captain, thought it was perfectly OK to grab the junk of a Rutgers player. After review, he was given a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected from the game. That was embarrassing, but not nearly as bad as Johnson laughing and smiling all the way to the locker room with that look on his face that he didn't do anything wrong.
Piling on, there was no public punishment, which angered a lot of the fan base. He was right back on the floor the next game against Minnesota, albeit not as a starter. The game after that, Tuesday night, he picked up another flagrant foul in the Purdue loss for taking a shot at Zach Edey.
After three years in an Indiana uniform, we expect that from him because we've seen all his antic. So much of this fan base is ready to move on completely from him. He embarrasses those old-school die-hard Indiana fans with all of his theatrics. Senior Day is March 10, and most of the fan base is counting the days toward Johnson's departure.
But then Friday night, the Hoosiers had another player ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul. This time it was sophomore guard C.J. Gunn, who got tossed out for an intentional elbow to the face of Wisconsin's Max Klesmit.
If the captain can do it, i seems, so can everyone else.
Now, two quick things. First off, I think CJ Gunn is a great kid and this was completely out of character. Second off, I've watched all the replays and Klesmit clearly was the annoying instigator. I get that. But this is Wisconsin after all — and my friend Brad Davison was one of the Big Ten's all-time annoying agitators. It's a program tradition.
But you still can 't pop a guy in the face with a referee looking right at you. The ejection? That's all on CJ.
Having players escorted off the floor for cheap-shot ejections is not a good look. Neither is Klesmit scoring 23 second-half points for the Wisconsin win — their 20th in a row against Indiana in Madison dating all the way back to 1998. That's an Indiana school record for futility.
That too just doesn't look good. Mike Woodson is losing this team quickly. And he's losing a fan base, too.
There's just so much more, sadly, that's making this Indiana program look bad. People are still talking about Edey, Purdue's 7-foot-4 reigning national player of the year, diving for a loose ball on Tuesday, even when the Boilers were up 18 points. He got the ball while Indiana's highly touted transfer, 7-foot center Kel'el Ware, just stood there and watched, making zero effort to join the fray.
Purdue went down and scored an easy basket while Ware jogged downcourt behind them, making no effort to engage in the play. (Ware, by the way, didn't play against Wisconsin, out with a foot injury.)
There is just so little to like about this team right now. They're 12-7 and they win the games they are supposed to — 10-0 as favorites. So what.
But when they lose, they lose ugly, Six of their seven losses have been downright awful. The only one that wasn't — the four-point loss to then No. 2 Kansas — was still an opportunity wasted. The margin of defeat in the other six is by an average of 16 points a game.
So let's be happy that we don't have to watch this team for another eight days. We can re-set, and hopefully they will, too. They damn well better.
I will get some major dental work done on Monday — and that will be more fun than watching the Hoosiers. I will do my taxes for a couple of days after that — and that will be more fun, too. That's how bad this is.
A week-plus away might be a good thing, because no one will be talking to me about getting this team over the hump.
I hold out hope that the last six weeks of the season will be better, because that's the optimist in me. But that light at the end of the tunnel? Well, it's fading fast.
Really, really fast.
Related stories on Indiana-Wisconsin
- GAME STORY: Indiana got blown out again on the road, losing 91-79 to Wisconsin with plenty of defensive breakdowns. Wisconsin guard Max Klesmit shredded the Hoosiers’ defense for 26 points and five 3-pointers, and CJ Gunn lost his composure and was ejected for elbowing Klesmit in the chin. CLICK HERE
- LIVE BLOG: Welcome to our live blog for Indiana's game against the Wisconsin Badgers, where we'll provide live updates, highlights and thoughts on the matchup live from press row at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. CLICK HERE
- IU POINT GUARD DILEMMA: Indiana has gone back and forth between Xavier Johnson and Gabe Cupps as the team’s starting point guard this season, due to injuries and unproductive play. Coach Mike Woodson has also tried Trey Galloway, but solutions are escaping the Hoosiers in the heart of Big Ten play. CLICK HERE
- POINT SPREAD: It's been a long time since Indiana won a game at Wisconsin, and the oddsmakers don't think that's going to change Friday night. The Hoosiers are big underdogs against the first-place Badgers. Here's the latest on the point spread, with a great history of both teams against the number. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: Indiana used to win all the time at Wisconsin when Bob Knight was the coach, but he lost his last Big Ten game there in 2000 and the Hoosiers haven't won since. The streak is 19 now, tied for the worst in school history, and the two teams meet again in Madison on Friday night. Here are all the gory details on the streak. CLICK HERE
